Assembly adopts resolution designating May 2025 as Head Start Month and urges federal funding protections

The California State Assembly on June 4 adopted Assembly Joint Resolution 12, recognizing May 2025 as Head Start Month and urging the U.S. Congress and the president to protect and increase funding for the federal Head Start program. The measure passed by roll call, Ayes 70, Nos 0.

Assemblymember Hadwick, the resolution’s author, said she rose “not just as a legislator, but as someone whose life was shaped by the very program we've been fighting to protect,” and asked members for an aye vote. The resolution recorded 69 additional coauthors before the final vote.

AJR 12 calls attention to Head Start’s role in providing early childhood education and wraparound services to low-income families. In floor remarks Hadwick said the program provides early education as well as “health, nutrition, social, emotional, behavioral, and dental services,” and described Head Start as “a lifeline” in many rural counties where other services are not available.

Supporters across party lines described Head Start as a long-standing anti-poverty program. Assemblymember Aarons, a coauthor, noted the program’s bipartisan roots and thanked colleagues for a recent letter urging California’s congressional delegation to defend Head Start funding. Assemblymember Bonta said Head Start served “over 80,000 California children” and employed about 27,000 Californians, and described the program’s track record on school completion and child welfare outcomes. Other members who spoke in support included Assemblymembers Quirk Silva, Muratsuchi, Alvarez and Jeff Gonzales, who recounted personal ties to Head Start as former students, parents, or employees.

Debate emphasized the program’s role in rural counties and among low-income families. Hadwick said in counties such as Modoc, Siskiyou and Lassen Head Start is often “the only place where a child can get a meal, a health screening, or the only learning program or child care option,” remarks that multiple members echoed during debate. Several members also warned that while Head Start was not cut from the then-current federal budget proposal, funding had remained flat and families continued to face threats from other federal changes to health and food assistance programs.

The resolution is advisory: it asks federal officials to protect and increase Head Start funding but does not itself appropriate funds or change state law. After adoption, the clerk announced the resolution was adopted and would be transmitted per normal process.

Coauthors added: 69. Final vote on AJR 12: Ayes 70, Nos 0.

This resolution does not create new state spending; it is a formal expression of the Assembly’s position and a request to federal actors.